If It All Fell To Pieces Tomorrow
by iworkwithpens
Summary: Mackenzie might be sick. Will might be terrified. Together, they just might make it through.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: This story is meant to take place a few weeks after the season one finale and is in no way related to another story I wrote called Enjoy Yourself It's Later Than You Think. Having said that, it is a bit of a tear-jerker so be forewarned. Thanks, as always, go out to my beta LilacMermaid. Still don't own The Newsroom.**

_You can spend all your time making money  
You can spend all your love making time  
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow  
Would you still be mine?  
~The Eagles, Take It To The Limit_

It wasn't so much the silence itself that was annoying him, it was the fact that she wasn't talking. Mackenzie never let entire segments pass without some sort of instruction in his ear. Hell, she wasn't even trying to ask him what was on the voicemail anymore. And maybe that was what scared him. He had never known Mac to give up so easily on anything, let alone something so important.

They'd been good these last few weeks. The knife's edge of tension they had teetered on ever since she came back seemed to be dissipating. For so many months, he could tell, she had always been waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the playful, teasing banter to suddenly turn accusatory on his part. Or worse yet, for the words Brian Brenner or cheating to enter the conversation. Maybe they were both finally realizing how inevitable it all was…how inevitable _they_ were.

And then it changed.

The last few days she had been eerily quiet. Handing rundown meetings over to Jim after just a few minutes of instructions. Letting her secretary deliver paperwork to him. Disappearing in the middle of the afternoon, only to return and lock herself in her office. It was beginning to unnerve him.

The final straw was tonight's show. He'd heard nothing from her the whole time except for the occasional reminder that he had ten seconds left before they came back from commercial. He listened intently to see if she would say anything else, but nothing ever came. Then suddenly, with only a few minutes left in the broadcast, he heard Jim's voice in his ear. He tried to keep his head from whipping up in shock. Where the hell was she?

The moment they told him he was clear he ripped off his microphone and headed to the control room.

"What the hell was that Jim? Give me a little warning when I'm going to suddenly be hearing someone else in my ear in the middle of a broadcast!" he practically screamed at the younger man.

"Hey Will, I didn't have any warning. Mackenzie threw off her headset fifteen minutes ago and left the room, what the hell else was I supposed to do?" Will had to respect the man for standing his ground. Right now though, all he wanted was to know what the hell was going on with Mackenzie.

He marched through the newsroom toward her office. From the outside it looked dark and he had to wonder if she was even still in there. He pushed the door open and looked around. In the dimness, he thought he could make out her figure in the corner of the room, arms crossed tightly around her middle. It was the pose she adopted when she was hurt or when she was scared. Seeing her like that always made his stomach turn with uneasiness. It sucked the righteous indignation out of him.

"Mackenzie?" he asked quietly.

"I'm sorry if I threw you off tonight. I should have just let Jim handle the show but I didn't want to sit at home."

"Are you ok?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" she chuckled.

"You're scaring me here, Mac. What's going on?" He walked over to the corner of her office where she was currently sitting on the floor, her legs stretched out before her and crossed at the ankles.

"I found it a few days ago in the shower. I really tried to ignore it, but even I'm not that oblivious. I have to have a biopsy tomorrow morning. I already told Jim I'd be in late" she exhaled deeply and looked up at him.

He slid down the wall next to her in shock. When he reached the floor, he grabbed her hand.

"Tell me" was all he could say.

"I don't really have much to tell you yet. I went to the doctor three days ago. She ordered a mammogram, which came back with some abnormalities. She wants me to have a biopsy."

Will sat there in stunned silence. No, no, no. Not right now. They needed to work some things out. They were getting there. _He _was getting there. This was not supposed to happen to Mackenzie.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"I'm sure there's some pain involved but it can't be worse than being stitched up in an army field hospital can it?"

He winced envisioning that. "Probably not."

"Have you told anyone? Called your mother?" he asked her.

"I'd really rather not deal with my mother's histrionics until I have a better idea of what I'm dealing with Will."

"Ok" he replied, pulling her hand further into his lap and enclosing it between both of his.

That seemed to open the dam for her, and suddenly the tears were flowing freely. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her head against him.

"What do you want Mackenzie?"

"I want to wake up tomorrow and not have a lump in my breast."

"Ok, what do you want that I can give you?"

"I don't want to be alone tonight" she whispered.

"That I can do. You stay here. I'm going to go grab my things and call Lonny. I'll be right back."

He gently extracted himself from her and headed toward his office. He made his way over to the bathroom and locked himself in there. He fell to his knees on the small area rug in the center of the room and let his tears fall freely. He gave himself two minutes to completely lose it and then beg to a God he wasn't sure existed that she would be ok. When he had wept and prayed, he pulled himself up and splashed some cold water on his face.

He grabbed his briefcase and coat and saw Lonny standing nearby.

"Just give me a second and I'll be ready to go" he told the bodyguard.

He walked into Mackenzie's office and found her where he had left her, in the corner of the room.

"Mac, are you ready to get out of here?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah" she whispered, looking around as if trying to remember where her things were.

"I've got your briefcase, where's your coat and purse?" he asked her.

She reached over toward the chair near her and grabbed the items. Will reached out a hand to her and pulled her up.

He helped her on with her coat and led her out the door. He saw the few remaining members of the staff watch curiously as they slowly made their way toward the elevators. He could tell Lonny wanted to say something as well, but the man was a professional and kept his opinion to himself, perhaps sensing that right now was not the time to make a teasing comment.

When they reached the car Will guided her to the backseat and joined her. She leaned heavily into his side and closed her eyes. He could feel her shaking.

"We headed home Will?" Lonny asked.

"Yeah Lonny. Could you turn up the heat a little too?" Will asked as he draped his coat over Mackenzie and pulled her into him.

The ride to his apartment building was mercifully brief and he roused Mac from her stupor and helped her from the car. She leaned heavily against him in the elevator and walked into his home slowly, as if on auto-pilot.

"Do you want something to eat Mackenzie?" he asked, watching as she sank into his sofa, still wearing her coat and holding her purse.

When she didn't answer he made his way over to the coffee table in front of her and sat on it. He pried her purse from her hands and forced her to look at him.

"Mac? Come on, let me take your coat and get you something to eat" he pleaded.

"I'm really not hungry" she said softly.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked.

She looked around the room, suddenly seeming to realize where she was and what he was asking her.

"I don't know."

"Ok, I'm going to go find you something to change into. Then I'm going to heat up some soup and you're going to eat something before you try to get some sleep ok?"

She didn't answer, just nodded her head and stared at her hands.

Will went into his bedroom and looked through the drawers for something she wouldn't be swimming in. He found an old University of Nebraska t-shirt that had been washed and dried so many times it didn't really fit him anymore. He returned to the living room, shirt in hand, and looked around. She was standing over by the windows now.

"Mac? I brought you a shirt. Did you want to change?" She didn't respond. "Mackenzie?"

"I really love it here, you know" she said so quietly he almost couldn't hear her from the other side of the room.

"My apartment?" he asked.

"New York."

"I know you do." What the hell is she talking about, he wondered?

"If this is bad, I'd have to leave. My family is in England Will. There is nobody to help me here. And if I can't work, I'd lose my insurance. The NHS won't pay for my care if I stay in New York."

He was shocked she had thought this through so far into the future. She didn't even know if she had cancer yet and she was practically planning on going back to England to die.

"Stop it Mac! We don't even know what we're dealing with yet, so enough with visions of your deathbed in London. I'm not listening to that. And since when do you have nobody in New York to help you? What am I?" he practically yelled. She turned to look at him.

"You are a wonderful, caring man who I have hurt tremendously. You are a good friend Will, but I will not saddle you with my problems. I know you would willingly take them on, but I won't let you."

"Do I get a say in the matter?" he asked.

"No, you don't."

"Then what are you doing here Mackenzie? If I'm not going to be allowed to help you…to at least be your friend, or whatever the hell it is we are to each other these days, then what are you doing here?"

"You're right. I shouldn't have told you. I should go" she said, moving towards her purse and coat.

"Like hell you are. You think I'm going to sleep tonight knowing this? What time is your appointment tomorrow?"

"I'm sure I'll be in the office by noon Will."

"I didn't ask when you would be at work Mackenzie. I asked what time your appointment was."

For a moment, they seemed to be staring each other down, willing the other to give in first. Finally, she relented.

"Ten a.m." she said, standing a few feet away from him and looking for all the world like a lost little girl.

"I'll tell Lonny to be here at nine. Now, get your ass in the kitchen and eat something Mac."

She almost cracked a smile at that. Almost.

They sat quietly across from each other, sipping at their soup and lost in their thoughts.

"Did you want something to drink?" he asked. "Water, juice, wine?"

"Scotch" she answered succinctly.

"Mackenzie, I don't think getting drunk is going to help."

"Let's give it a try" she responded.

He walked over to the bar and poured them both a generous glass full of the amber liquid.

He returned to the kitchen to find it empty. "Mackenzie?" he shouted. Where the hell had she gone?

She returned to the living room dressed in his t-shirt and a giant pair of woolen socks he never had any use for. The things practically roasted his feet whenever he wore them, but she had always had feet like blocks of ice, so they were probably quite comfortable.

"Raided my sock drawer, huh?"

"I didn't really want to wear pantyhose the rest of the night, so yeah."

She curled up into a corner of the sofa that had once been her domain. He still didn't like anyone to sit there. He had gone on a date a few weeks after he and Mac had split and had nearly yelled at the poor woman when she dared to take that seat.

He looked at her there now and suddenly the years seemed to vanish. If he tried, he could pretend that the last few years hadn't even happened. Right now, he'd like to imagine the last few hours hadn't happened. He watched as she curled into herself, pulling the blanket that he kept thrown over the sofa around her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, timidly taking a seat several inches from her.

"Not really. What more is there to talk about until we have results?"

"I don't know. Is there a history of breast cancer in your family?" he asked, not sure he wanted the answer.

"My mum's sister. She died when she was thirty-eight. Now you can see why I wouldn't want to call my mother" she said flatly.

Oh my God, he thought. The same age as Mac. He very nearly choked on his scotch.

"Are you starting to see the full picture now Will? This isn't looking very hopeful is it?" she asked looking over at his shocked expression.

"That doesn't mean anything Mackenzie. Eighty percent of breast cancers are diagnosed in women who have no family history."

"You know this fact off the top of your head for what reason exactly?" she asked astonished.

"We did a story on genetic testing and breast cancer a few months before you came back to ACN. You know my memory…once something is in there it's nearly impossible to get it out. I really wish I had never heard that damn Spongebob Squarepants song. Why is it that my mind won't play The Beatles on a loop in my head when I can't sleep but instead tortures me with lyrics about a pineapple under the sea?"

He turned as Mackenzie began snorting from the other side of the sofa.

"It's not funny Mac. Do you know what it's like to hear that over and over again at two in the morning? It's enough to drive a man insane."

He watched happily as she began laughing hysterically, tears streaming down her face. At least he had done something useful. But then, suddenly, she wasn't laughing anymore. She was weeping openly.

"Mac? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Mackenzie?" he asked, alarmed at her sobbing now. He got up and moved closer to her, but was totally unprepared for the way she launched her body at him.

"Hey, it's ok. We'll figure it all out Mac. Whatever happens, I promise" he assured her, smoothing her hair down and rocking her gently. She nodded her head against him and her sobs began to slow. She leaned her head up and kissed his jaw. Before he even realized what was happening, she had turned herself so she was sitting astride him and was kissing him passionately. And he desperately did not want her to stop. But in all these months of push and pull between them… during their fights and battles, when he thought she had rejected him and then when he realized she hadn't, this was not how he had envisioned kissing Mackenzie McHale again. And it took every ounce of willpower he had to stop it.

"Mackenzie…stop. We can't do this. Not like this Mac" he told her as his hands framed her face and forced her to look at him. She looked almost as broken by that as she had by the possibility of cancer.

"I should go" she said, lifting herself off him. But he pulled her back down.

"No you shouldn't. We are going to get through this together, whatever it is. And then we deal with us, ok?"

She nodded her head.

"Let's try to get some sleep. Come on" he pushed her off his lap and then led her by the hand down the hallway.

He coaxed her into the bedroom and pulled back the covers of his bed and urged her to get in. He tucked the duvet around her and walked toward the bathroom to get changed. When he returned she was curled up in a ball watching as he moved about the room. She didn't move as he got into bed and wrapped himself around her.

Part of him relished the feeling of her in his arms…in his bed again. Then the reality of the situation would hit him and remind him why she was here.

"Will, you're crushing me" she whispered. It was then he realized how tightly he was holding on to her.

"Sorry" he replied.

"Will you come with me tomorrow?" she asked quietly.

"I already texted Jim and told him we'd both be late. Was that presumptuous of me?" he asked.

"No."

They laid silently for a few moments, unsure what to say next.

"When I was in Pakistan I used to wonder if it would affect you if something happened to me. Were you still too angry to care?"

He squeezed her tightly. "Stop right there Mackenzie. First of all, nothing is going to happen to you. Secondly, I don't give a shit what happens between us, I will _always_ care what happens to you."

"I know. I always should have known" she told him.

"I can give you one of my Ambien if you want…to help you sleep?" he asked uncertainly.

"Thanks, but no. I'd really rather not fall into a drugged sleep full of who knows what kind of thoughts and dreams."

"I dreamt about being trapped in an elevator with Reese and Leona the last time I took it. They were singing the lyrics to 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.' I swore I'd never touch the stuff again, so there's plenty."

"That's a ringing endorsement of the drug Will. God, I'll never try it now" she chuckled.

He scooted closer to her in bed and readjusted his arms around her. In doing so, he accidentally brushed the side of her breast and heard her quick intake of breath.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

"That's ok. It's not like we're not intimately familiar with each other Will. For God's sake, we're in bed together counting down the hours until we have to go to my breast biopsy. I think we can drop the shy virgin act."

"Yeah" he chuckled. Leave it to Mackenzie to get right down to brass tacks. "Does it hurt?" he asked her.

"No. I'm told it would be better news if it did. Then it would likely be an infection or an abscess. Who knew you were supposed to hope for breast pain?" she added ruefully.

"Who knew?" he agreed softly.

"Do you want to feel it?" she asked timidly.

"I'm not sure. Do you want me to?"

She responded by grabbing his hand and placing it on the outer edge of her right breast. Sure enough, he could feel a small, hard lump about the size and shape of a pea. It somehow made it that much more real, and his heart sank just a little. He really wanted to believe this was nothing. But now it wasn't nothing. It was real and solid and there, right beneath his fingers. He exhaled sharply.

"Yeah, that was about my reaction too. Followed by a few choice words shouted into the steam of my shower. Feel free to have the same response" she told him.

"Shit."

"That was the first word out of my mouth as well" she told him.

He pulled his hand away and wrapped his arms around her again. "It doesn't mean anything Mac. Not yet."

"I know. It's just a little too eerie for me…this happening to me at the same age that my aunt died. My mother used to tell me that every birthday that she passed after thirty-eight made her feel a little less worried that it would happen to her too. I'm sure she feels that way about me as well. It must be awful to watch your little girl and think there may be a ticking time bomb inside her. That's why I can't bear to tell her until I have to."

"Then we won't. Maybe there's nothing to tell Mac" he told her. He hoped he wasn't pushing her too much by using we. In his mind they were in this together no matter what happened.

"Ok" she yawned.

"Try to get some sleep Mackenzie. I set my alarm. I'll wake you" he reassured her.

"Keep talking. I don't want to feel like I'm alone" she pleaded.

What the hell should he talk about? He couldn't think of anything so he started rambling about the first thing that came into his head. "We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these rights are…"

"Will, are you really going to quote the entire Declaration of Independence to me?" she snorted.

"It was either that or 'Casey At The Bat' and I know how much you love baseball. I went with the Declaration. You can never go wrong with Thomas Jefferson, Mac. It should speak to your deep-seated patriotism."

She chuckled at little at that.

"Ok, Will. Keep going then" she whispered.

And he did. He recited damn near the whole Declaration of Independence, because he wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon. He swore that every time he got close, his hand would brush the side of her breast and like a magnet, he was drawn to that tiny little lump that could change his entire life, taking away the only woman he had ever loved before he even got a chance to love her again.

**To Be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

Will watched as the sun rose over New York and listened to Mackenzie's deep, even breaths. If he had done nothing else for her, maybe he had allowed her a few hours of peace.

"Mackenzie" he whispered, shaking her slightly.

"Hmm…Will?" she asked sleepily.

"Yeah, you've got to get up. It's almost eight. Lonny will be here in an hour. Go take a shower" he told her.

"Ok" she responded, and started to roll out of bed. When she had made her way over to the bathroom door, she turned and looked at him. "Thank you for last night. And for today too Will. I don't know how I would do this on my own."

"You would deal with it like you deal with everything else in life Mackenzie. You just bulldoze your way through it. But I'm glad I can be there with you."

She dropped her gaze down to her feet and nodded, turning to go into the bathroom.

An hour later they were on their way to the Lower East Side. Will had asked Lonny to make himself as scarce as possible through all this. He knew he still needed protection, but Mac didn't need to be part of that circus when she was going through all this.

They sat quietly in the waiting room of her doctor's office until she started giggling.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just trying to imagine what people in here are thinking about the three of us. You, me and Lonny heading to the OB/GYN together?" she told him, glancing around at the other women in the room.

He couldn't help it, he started laughing too.

"He doesn't have to come in there with us does he?" she asked.

It was the first time she had voiced her intention to have _him_ in there. He had wondered whether Mackenzie would want him in there with her, or whether his support stopped at the waiting room.

"No, he doesn't" Will said firmly, daring Lonny to disagree with him. Lonny shrugged.

"Mackenzie McHale" a nurse called out, and Mac froze.

"Come on" he said grabbing her hand. "You can do this. If you can cover uprisings in Afghanistan, you can do this Mac."

She let him pull her up and they followed the nurse down the hallway and into a room near the back of the building.

"I'm guessing pregnancy tests and sonograms are in the front of the building. They like to hide the depressing procedures and illnesses in the back" she said, grasping Will's hand so tightly he was afraid he no longer had blood flow.

"Mackenzie, you are not ill. You are having a simple medical procedure and then we are going back to work and waiting to hear the news that you're just fine, ok?"

"From your lips to God's ears" she whispered.

He didn't tell her that he fully intended to silently pray from now until he got word that she was going to be ok. He didn't really care that they were both lapsed Catholics who avoided churches like the plague. He was willing to give anything a shot at this point.

Just then a small woman with a long, blond braid down her back entered the room and started chatting away as if they were all sitting down to lunch instead of a biopsy.

"Hi Mackenzie. How you doing this morning?" the doctor asked.

"I've been better" Mackenzie told the woman.

"I can imagine. Here's the plan. I'm going to get set up here while you change into this lovely paper vest. Your companion here can stay, but I'll ask that he sticks to the stool I've put him on and not touch anything other than your left hand once I've sterilized the area. Everybody understand?" she asked.

They both nodded. Mackenzie began unbuttoning her blouse and suddenly Will wasn't quite sure whether he should turn away or not. Like she had said last night, it was not a sight he was unfamiliar with, but that was then, this was now.

Mackenzie answered that question for him by silently squeezing his hand in reassurance and handing him her blouse and then her bra and donning the rather unflattering disposable paper vest. He had only fleetingly realized that he had just glimpsed the scar from her stabbing for the first time. This whole experience still felt like some awful, yet extremely vivid dream. Well, except for the part about seeing Mackenzie's breasts again. That was a whole different type of dream, and something he was hoping to bring to reality when this whole damn thing was over.

The nurse directed Mackenzie up onto the table and nodded toward a stool near her head for Will to take a seat upon.

"First I'm going to inject some local anesthetic Mackenzie. I won't lie, it won't make the experience completely painless, but it will help significantly. We'll let that take effect and then I'll use a larger, hollow needle to grab several samples from the lump, ok?" the doctor asked.

Mac just nodded.

Will grabbed her left hand and whispered "hey, look at me, not at what they're doing, ok?"

She nodded again and turned her head and stared into his eyes, wincing when she felt the needle enter.

"I could start with the Declaration of Independence again?" he asked quietly.

"How about that 'America isn't the greatest country in the world anymore' speech? I really enjoyed that one Will" she said keeping her eyes focused on him.

"Hey, no getting me in trouble again. Pick a different speech Mac" he told her, firmly wishing he hadn't looked up at just that moment to see the size of the needle they were about to stick into her. For a minute, he thought he was going to be sick, but he hid it well, not wanting Mackenzie to be any more nervous than she already was.

"Fine, then let's try 'Casey At The Bat' this time" she muttered, sucking in a breath when the doctor started the biopsy.

"Sorry Mackenzie, just a couple of minutes here and we'll be all done" the doctor said.

Will watched as Mac clenched her jaw in obvious discomfort. The poem started spilling from his lips as fast as he could remember it. "The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day. The score stood four to two, with one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first and Barrows did the same, a sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game."

He looked up to see the doctor still poking and prodding away and Mackenzie taking deep, even breaths. And so he continued. "A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast." Whoops, he thought, way to take her mind off what was happening. And yet, he looked down at her face to see her smirking.

"Who knew baseball poetry contained gynecological references?" she giggled.

"Guess I should have thought that one through a little more, huh?" he asked. She nodded.

"All done Mackenzie. Let me just clean you up and bandage this and you're set to go. Don't shower for twenty-four hours and no heavy lifting. We should have the results in three to four days" the doctor said as she finished cleaning betadine off Mackenzie's chest.

Three to four days, he thought. What the hell are we supposed to do for three to four days while we wait to see what the rest of our lives look like?

When the doctor moved to leave the room, he helped Mackenzie up off the table and handed her her blouse and bra.

"It all seems rather anti-climactic doesn't it?" she asked. "I mean ten minutes and we're on our way."

"Yeah, except for that whole not knowing thing" he responded.

"Except for that" she agreed.

After Mackenzie finished at the front desk they all made their way out to the car, where he helped her into the backseat and got in beside her. He clasped her hand the entire ride to the studio.

They rode the elevator up to the twenty-fifth floor in silence. He watched her out of the corner of his eye and wished he knew what to do now. It was Tuesday and best case scenario was that they would know something by Friday. God only knew what they would do if this stretched on past the weekend.

"Will?" he heard her voice question him.

"What?"

"You've got to let go of my hand if we're going to get anything done today" she told him, staring down at their joined hands pointedly.

"Oh yeah, right" he said, but still he clasped her hand. "You'll tell me the minute you hear anything, right?" he asked.

"Of course I will. I promise" she reassured him. "But we're not going to know anything for a few days. You heard the doctor."

"Yeah, I know. But you can talk to me in the meantime…I mean, if you want to. We can have dinner or you can stay at my place or just…whatever you need Mac. You know that right?" He was babbling now and he knew it, but he didn't know how to just let go of her hand and go back to the people they were two days ago. How do you pretend your entire world hasn't shifted on its axis?

"I know that Will. Thank you" she said and kissed him on the cheek. She disentangled her hand from his and made her way down the hall and through the newsroom. He could tell she was holding her head up a little higher than necessary and straightening her back as if for battle. That was his Mackenzie…never one to show weakness.

He watched her throughout the day and noticed she started resting her right arm on the desk or table or pulling it into her torso. By five o'clock she seemed to be leaning heavily against the back of her chair in the conference room. She stayed seated as the rest of the staff left the room to finalize that night's show.

"Mac?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she responded, tilting her head up to look at him.

"Take these" he told her and handed her two Tylenol. "You're in pain. You've been holding your arm into your side for the last hour. I looked over that list of medical instructions the nurse handed me and it said to take Tylenol for the pain."

She nodded and popped the pills into her mouth washing them down with stale coffee. She winced at the lukewarm concoction.

"Do you want to go home?" he asked. "Jim can handle this tonight. We're throwing to a lot of pre-taped packages. You really don't need to stay."

"And do what? Sit at home and stare at the walls? No thank you" she told him wearily. He could see she was fading fast, but he knew not to force her. That was the surest way to get Mackenzie McHale to dig her heels in.

"Ok. I'm going to look over a few things in my office. Join me?" he asked. She nodded and he helped her out of her chair. She trudged slowly to his office and he followed behind, a hand on her lower back. If anyone on the staff noticed their behavior, they wisely said nothing.

He watched as she sat stiffly on the loveseat in his office and tried to find a comfortable position. He sat at his desk and began reading through a memo on the debt ceiling and U.S. credit ratings. He started to quietly read aloud, hoping his voice would lull her to sleep. When he looked up a few minutes later to find her nodding off against the arm of the sofa, he chuckled quietly. He could always count on economic policy to put her to sleep.

An hour later Will was dressed and ready to go on the air and Mackenzie was still asleep. He shut off the lights in his office and pulled the blinds closed. He motioned Maggie over toward him.

"Mackenzie isn't feeling well. Don't let anyone in my office while I'm on the air. Jim will handle the show tonight" he told the young woman. She nodded.

Later that night, Will woke Mackenzie as he prepared to leave for the evening.

"Mac…it's time to go. Mackenzie?" he urged her awake, shaking her left arm.

"What?" she asked groggily.

"Let's go home."

"What do you mean? We have a show to do."

"No we don't. You slept through it."

"What? You didn't wake me? Will, you had no right! This is my show and you had no right!" she yelled.

"You were practically comatose Mackenzie. Pardon me for thinking that perhaps a couple hours sleep was the best thing for you at that moment and not to be standing on your feet for an hour in the control room!" he shouted right back.

He knew they had to be attracting attention from the staff, but he didn't really care at that moment. Was the woman insane? She'd been on edge for days worrying about her health. She had been through a minor surgical procedure that very morning and she was angry he let her sleep? He couldn't win!

"Would you like me to apologize for being concerned about your health Mac? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a fucking decent friend!"

They were both breathing heavily and staring each other down, battling for the upper hand. Before he could say another word, she stormed out of his office.

"That went well" he muttered to the empty room.

"I take it we will be leaving without the lovely Ms. McHale this evening?" Lonny asked facetiously from the doorway of Will's office.

"Your powers of observation astound me Lonny" Will responded as he grabbed his things and began walking through the nearly empty newsroom.

The two men stood silently in the elevator until the bodyguard broke the silence. "She'll be ok, man" he said.

"You don't know what you're talking about Lonny. Leave it alone" Will ground out through his clenched teeth.

"I know she's tough and she doesn't let you get away with anything. And any woman who can put up with you for fifteen hours a day can beat anything."

"Ok" Will muttered, afraid if he said anymore he'd turn into a weeping mess on the floor of the elevator. Please God, let him be right.

He spent the rest of the evening jumping from one room to the next in hopes of finding something to take his mind off Mackenzie. To stop him from wondering where she was and what she was doing. Was she still in pain? Would she be able to sleep?

He sat in his living room and played guitar. When that failed to keep his mind off things he washed dishes and shuffled through his mail. By the time he found himself organizing his sock drawer at midnight he knew he had lost his mind. His hand was hovering over his phone, desperate to call her, when he heard the elevator door open. He walked out to the living room to find Mackenzie standing there in leggings and a sweatshirt looking like a drowned rat.

"It's raining" she said, as if that explained everything.

"I gathered that from your appearance."

"I couldn't sleep" she told him.

"Neither could I."

"I'm sorry I yelled. I'm angry and I'm frustrated and I want to know what those damn test results say and I took it out on you because I knew I could and because you're the only one who knows and because you're you and I know you will forgive me. And that's terrible of me and that made me feel even worse and…" she stuttered to a stop looking up at the man who, she knew, would always forgive her. He already had.

"Shut up Mackenzie and come here" he told her and opened his arms to her. She moved as fast as she comfortably could and rested against his chest.

"And my breast hurts and who the hell else am I supposed to say that to Will?" she whimpered into his shoulder.

"Nobody Mackenzie. You aren't supposed to say that to anyone else but me, ok?" he whispered into her hair and she nodded, sniffling a little.

"Can we go to bed now?" she asked pitifully.

"Yeah. We can go to bed now" he assured her, because really, that was the only thing they both needed…both wanted. To be with each other for as long as they could.

He wrapped his arm around her and led her back to bed. He watched as she stripped off her rain-soaked leggings and sweatshirt to reveal a huge t-shirt underneath. It looked distinctly familiar.

"You stole my New York Jets t-shirt?" he asked.

"I did not _steal_ your t-shirt. You left it at my apartment and possession is nine-tenths of the law" she responded, snuggling down into the bed.

He stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and got into bed beside her. He started to spoon up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist, but thought better of it.

"You won't hurt me Will. Just keep your hands where they are and you'll be fine" she assured him.

"I wasn't going to try for second base tonight Mac." She chuckled at that.

"I didn't mean it that way Will. I just mean keep your hands around my waist and you won't knock into my biopsy site" she told him.

"Killjoy."

"We'll save the rest for later. If there is a later" she mumbled that last part quietly.

What exactly did she mean by that? Was she questioning whether she would be around long enough for them to enjoy a life together or was she wondering whether, no matter what happened, they could move beyond all their baggage and find a way to fix _them_? He really didn't give a damn. Either way she was depressing the hell out of him.

"Stop it Mackenzie. I am the eternal pessimist in this relationship, damn it, not you. Stop making me do your job for you."

"Sorry. I'm about a quart low on optimism right now Will."

"Well, then I will just have to have enough for the both of us for the time being. You are going to be fine. I am not going to break in a new EP."

"That's what this is all about isn't it?" she asked sarcastically. "You're just afraid of who Charlie will get to replace me if I die?"

His grip tightened around her waist. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that again Mackenzie." His voice shook with indignation and fear. Suddenly she felt his tears on her shoulder. She turned in his embrace.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I was kidding. It was a bad joke Will. I'm sorry."

She looked at him and kissed his lips lightly. "I'm sorry" she said again.

"Ok" he whispered and kissed her forehead. "Go to sleep Mac."

She turned and spooned her back up against his chest and settled in for sleep. She never realized how many hours he spent staring at her that night.

The days progressed and, lucky for them, it was a slow news week. Neither could give their entire attention to their work. The rest of the staff seemed to sense a need to pick up the slack for their bosses. Even Charlie gave the two their space. Something told him now was not the time for joking remarks or questions.

They spent their days together at the office and their evenings trying to talk about anything but biopsies and cancer. They watched movies, took walks in the park and played cards. At night, they lay together in bed and tried to ignore the elephant in the room. They also never spoke of the decidedly romantic shift in their relationship. They weren't exactly back together but they were essentially co-habitating. Leave it to them to defy all boundaries of traditional relationships.

They were both on edge as they left for work Friday.

"I'm going to head in early" she told him and watched as his head whipped up from the morning paper.

"We're going to the same place Mac. Just wait for Lonny" he pleaded. Don't leave me alone here wondering if you've heard something, he wanted to tell her.

"Let me have this morning, ok Will?" she asked. "Just in case the news isn't good, let me have just one morning of normal. Of walking to the office and getting my own coffee."

She looked so scared, but so determined in that moment that he couldn't deny her.

"Ok. I'll see you there Mac."

"Thank you" she whispered and kissed his cheek goodbye.

Looking back now, they really shouldn't have even gone to work. They were both basket cases. Jumping every time her cell phone rang and then apologizing to staff members for being so disengaged from whatever topic was being discussed.

They were sitting in the two o'clock rundown meeting when her phone rang again and she grabbed it. He watched as her face drained of color and she left the room.

"We'll be right back" he told everyone and followed her out. He found her in her office quietly thanking whoever was on the phone and then setting the object down and looking at him, standing there in the doorway.

"Was that the doctor?" he asked.

She just nodded her head.

"Well? You're killing me here Mackenzie. Say something."

She got up and crossed the room to stand in front of him. "Fibroadenoma" she whispered.

"I have no idea what that means Mackenzie."

"It means I don't have cancer" she told him.

"They're sure?" he asked.

"Absobloodylutely!" she practically shouted. He picked her up and swung her around.

"Thank God" he whispered into her ear.

"Thank you, Will" she told him as he set her down.

"For what?" he asked.

"For being there for me."

"Always" he responded. "Now let's go do a show and then let's get the hell out of here and celebrate, ok?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"I have a lot of things in mind Mackenzie. And we have all the time in the world to figure it out."

"Yeah, we do" she told him, and grabbed his hand and led him out of the room.

That night's show would probably not go down as one of their better ones, but for once in their lives, they really didn't care. Will had never wanted that damn red light to stop shining so badly. He knew they had already heard the good news, but he couldn't help himself from becoming a bit jittery the longer he was away from her. It was as if the news wasn't real until they could both soak it in together.

The minute he heard the all clear he ripped off his microphone and headed for the control room.

"Mackenzie, my office please" he said tersely into the room and then walked briskly down the hallway.

He didn't really care what anyone thought at this point. If he didn't get the hell out of this building pretty soon he was going to lose it. Just as he began to pace the length of his office for the third time, he heard her enter.

"Will?" she asked timidly.

"Get your things. We need to go" he told her. Something in the tone of his voice must have made her realize how badly he needed to be out of that building and at home with her. She returned moments later with her coat and bag. He threw his coat on over his suit, not even bothering to change out of the custom made Armani ensemble.

They both followed Lonny out to the car and climbed into the backseat. Mackenzie looked over at his clenched jaw and felt his hand clasp hers desperately and knew better than to utter a single word to him. Will McAvoy was about to implode and he didn't want anyone but her to see it.

**Author's Notes: To KatyCat, Millie, SortItOut , SerialStoryLover and all you other readers out there. I could tell you guys might want to seriously hurt me if I killed Mac again. Even I, angst lover that I am, could not kill Mackenzie this close to Christmas. Who do you think I am, Scrooge or something?! Stay tuned for one more chapter of this one!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Well, it took some time, but I think I'm finally reasonably pleased with this last chapter. Giving this an M rating to be safe. Things get a little steamy in this chapter…if that's not your thing don't read. Thanks for all the lovely feedback guys! If you read and have never reviewed…well, give it a shot. It would be a lovely belated Christmas present to me! Thanks, as always, to LilacMermaid for beta services. And thanks, as well, to teanc09 for a lovely little writing exercise that finally knocked the writer's block out of my head. Still don't own The Newsroom.**

_All alone at the end of the evening  
And the bright lights have faded to blue  
I was thinking 'bout a woman who might have loved me  
And I never knew  
~The Eagles, Take It To The Limit_

Will watched the lights of Manhattan flicker past the car windows in a daze. She was fine. Mackenzie was going to be fine. So why couldn't he let go of her hand? He also couldn't get warm. He was wearing a fine gage wool suit and a camelhair overcoat and he couldn't get warm.

Shock. That's what his logical mind was telling him. He was in shock. He had held it together for four days for her. Had been the supportive friend, boyfriend, significant other? Whatever the hell he was to Mackenzie these days…he had been there to support her through the biopsy and that god-awful wait for test results. And he had rejoiced right along with her in the good news.

But somehow, once they got through the show and the damn red light stopped flashing above the camera it was like a switch had been flicked for him. Holy fuck! Mackenzie could have had cancer. Mackenzie could have _died_. And here he was, still sitting on the sidelines waiting for some sort of divine intervention to tell him he could forgive her.

He didn't even remember getting out of the car, but suddenly she was trying to pull his briefcase out of his hands and get him to change his clothes. Right! Custom made Armani suits look good, but really aren't that comfortable to lounge around in. Get it together Will! She's looking at you like you're a small child who needs help undressing.

He numbly made his way to the bedroom and changed into some sweatpants and a t-shirt and returned to the living room to find it empty. Where the hell had she gone? His heart thumped in his chest as he padded around the apartment in search of her.

He found her in the kitchen, setting the previous night's Chinese take-out cartons on the counter and pulling plates and bowls from the cupboards. She needed to stop that. Mackenzie in the kitchen made him nervous…it had always been a recipe for disaster. And her quick movements back and forth, from cupboards to refrigerator to kitchen table, were beginning to grate on his already frayed nerves.

Stop! He wanted to tell her to stop moving and just let him look at her for a while. He thought maybe he could spend the rest of his life just staring at her. Making sure she was real and alive and still here with him.

He reached out and grabbed her hands to still her movements and just watched her for a moment.

"Please stop" he said quietly.

"Stop what? Stop getting dinner?" she asked uncertainly.

"Please stop moving Mackenzie."

She looked down at his hands grasping hers and looked back up into his face. Suddenly the phone began to ring and they both jumped apart, shocked at the unexpected intrusion.

She reached for the phone on the counter, but he placed his hand over the phone before she could grab it. "No, not right now Mackenzie. I don't want to talk to anyone else right now."

But still, they just stared at each other. He could tell he was beginning to scare her. Truth be told, he was beginning to scare himself a little. He had kept his feelings for Mackenzie so damn compartmentalized for months that he didn't quite know what to do with all of them now.

When she had first come back to ACN he had spent weeks adjusting to her mere presence in his life once more. He had spent even longer trying to come to terms with the fact that he still wanted her. She had hurt him and left him and then threw herself right back into his life and damn it, he still wanted her but he couldn't forgive her betrayal. And for so long that had been the crux of it…of them. How do you spend the rest of your life with the woman you love and adore when she was also the woman you couldn't forgive? The woman you couldn't really talk to unless you were high?

And then she had found that lump and the world had shifted. Mackenzie had never even thought about telling anyone other than him and he had never wavered in his support of her. And that probably said a whole lot more about their relationship than some damn voicemail message ever could.

Just then his cell phone began to ring from the other side of the room. Obviously, someone was trying to reach him and was not going to stop until he answered. He dropped her hands and reached for his coat and fished the item from his pocket. He looked at the display. Of course.

"Not now Charlie. We'll talk later" he said tersely and hung up the phone.

"Will?" she asked gently.

He got up and made his way around the kitchen island and over to where she stood. He grabbed her hand and led her back into the living room and sat down on the sofa and pulled her into his lap.

He swore he could hear every sound in the room just then…it was oppressively silent. He could hear the ticking of the clock and the distant sounds of New York City traffic. He pulled her against him and she wrapped her arms around him and just held him. For the first time in four days he wasn't terrified for their future and he wasn't trying to be supportive. And so, for the first time in more than four years he let himself go.

He couldn't have stopped the tears if someone had held a gun to his head. He had his ear pressed to her heart and he could hear every glorious beat and he thought he could listen to that every night for the rest of his life. And she wasn't going to die and that meant they still had time to figure all this out.

He sobbed so hard and for so long that he was exhausted when he was through. She held him silently for several minutes, waiting for him to calm. It was only then that he realized how tightly he had been holding her to him. The poor woman had undergone a biopsy a few days ago and he was crushing her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, suddenly realizing he might have hurt her.

"I'm a little more worried about you right now Will. It was good news, but you don't seem to be handling it very well." She reached up and wiped the remaining tears from his cheeks.

"I don't think I really let myself think about it _not_ being good news until the minute I saw the look on your face when the doctor's office called. I think my heart stopped beating for a few minutes Mac" he whispered into her hair.

"I'm sorry I scared you" she said quietly.

"You did Mac. This whole damn thing shook me out of whatever stupor I've been walking around in for the past few weeks…thinking that we could both just wait forever for some sign that we were supposed to forgive each other our faults and move on with our lives. I don't know why I thought it was anyone else's job but mine to let you know what I'm feeling and what I want for the two of us."

"Your own trip to the hospital didn't clear that up for you?" she asked impishly.

He thought about that for a second. The only thing that hospital visit had cleared up for him was that he really hated hospital food and Mackenzie hadn't rejected him. That glorious revelation buoyed his hopes for weeks. Right up until she had said the word biopsy.

"I think I realized something the last few days" he told her.

"Want to clue me in?" she asked.

"Time does not heal all wounds Mackenzie" he whispered into her hair.

She sat perfectly still on his lap, as if shocked at his admission.

"It doesn't?" she squeaked out.

"No, it doesn't. Being scared shitless that you won't have _enough_ time changes everything."

She seemed to relax into him at that. What did she think he was going to say?

"Is that all it is though Will? We get over this little health scare and you realize you never really forgave me?" she asked uncertainly.

"Wow, you really are becoming the pessimistic one in this relationship aren't you?" he asked. He could hardly blame her though. He hadn't been terribly open and reassuring to her over the last year and a half. He could understand her hesitation.

"Maybe I've used up all my good karma for the day…or maybe even a lifetime" she whispered.

"I hope not Kenz" he replied as he hugged her tightly to him.

He hadn't called her that in so long. It felt good to finally say it again. He often wanted to tell Sloan to stop using his pet name for Mackenzie. It wasn't right that she could say it when he couldn't yet.

Suddenly she stood up and made her way toward the kitchen and began sorting through take-out cartons again and looking for silverware and glasses. What the hell had he said?

"Mackenzie?" he asked as he entered the room.

"You must be starving, we barely ate all day. What did you want…the Chinese or the Italian we had the other night?" she asked, never stopping her movement around the kitchen.

"Mackenzie, stop it!" he shouted. "What's wrong?" he asked coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her head.

"You're just upset right now Will. You don't know what you want yet" she whispered.

"I _do_ know what I want Mac" he replied, kissing her softly on her neck.

"What do you want Will?"

"You" he replied succinctly.

"Aren't you the one who stopped me the other night?"

Part of him bristled at that memory. They were both so scared and so raw that night before her biopsy that falling into bed together would have been the easiest thing in the world. But morning would have dawned on an awkward situation and she likely would have slipped out of his apartment on her own. And he was so glad that hadn't happened and that he had been able to be there for her these last few days.

"I did. Because I didn't want you making a decision out of fear and desperation that you might later regret Mackenzie. That is not what I'm doing" he told her, pulling her even tighter to him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, unsure.

"Celebrating, making up for lost time, enjoying life…take your pick Mac."

She turned in his arms and looked him straight in the eyes. "I like the sound of all of them" she replied.

He kissed her softly and then led her down the hallway toward the bedroom.

"You scared the hell out of me Mackenzie. Don't do that again please" he pleaded and placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her toward him, kissing her deeply. She simply moaned her agreement.

He began to unbutton her blouse and kiss his way down her neck toward the slope of each breast. He reached behind her to unclasp her bra and suddenly stopped. There, on her right breast, was a fading bruise. A visual reminder of what they had just been through and what they had almost lost.

"It doesn't hurt Will. I promise. That stopped a couple of days ago" she reassured him.

He gently pushed her down to sit on the end of the bed and fell down to his knees in front of her, kneeling between her legs. He kissed her briefly on the mouth before he dipped his head down and began kissing the bruise and then the scar from her stabbing and making whispered promises to her and to God and to whoever would listen that he would never take this woman and her presence in his life for granted again.

He began to undo the clasp on her trousers and pull them down her legs and watched as she inched her way up the bed. He followed eagerly and settled his weight between her legs as she lay back against the pillows.

"Hi" she whispered, almost shyly, as he began to grind his hips into hers.

"Hi" he said back.

"I've missed you" she told him as she pushed his sweatpants down his legs.

"The feeling's mutual" he whispered, kissing her deeply. Oh God Mac, you have no idea how much I've missed you…missed this, he thought to himself.

He pulled back from her momentarily to pull off his t-shirt, but was right back between her legs only seconds later. Somehow she had managed to push their pants the rest of the way off them as well. He had always loved her ability to multi-task.

It had been too long since they'd been this close. He relished the feeling of her cool, bare skin against his. She'd once told him that they were quite obviously made for each other. He kept her warm and her ice cold feet made it possible for him to sleep at night under all the blankets she piled on the bed.

He began to kiss his way down her body and was nearly to his destination when he heard a cell phone ringing near his head. He looked up at Mackenzie questioningly and then realized the noise was coming from her discarded trousers. He reached over and grabbed them and plucked the phone from the pocket, switched it off and tossed it across the room where it made a resounding crunching noise.

"Sorry about the phone" he mumbled, resuming his exploration of her body with his tongue.

"Don't care…ACN bought it" she whispered, laughing slightly as he found a ticklish spot in the crease where her leg met her torso.

"I'll replace it" he reassured her.

"Told you…don't care…now come here" she whispered, pulling his face up to meet hers and kissing him deeply.

"Where were we?" he asked.

"Right about here" she told him, and pulled him against her. She kissed him soundly and pushed his boxers down. She pulled his hips to hers and looked up at him. "Are you going to keep me waiting much longer?" she asked.

"You never were patient" he replied as he pushed into her.

"Oh my God" she whimpered.

"You ok?" he asked, holding himself perfectly still.

"Much better than ok, Will. Don't you dare stop."

"Yes ma'am" he told her pulling back out and sliding into her again, over and over.

Like he could stop if he wanted to. He'd gone four years without this. Not sex…no he'd had sex while he and Mac had been apart. But this, feeling like you had finally found your home, he hadn't had this since she'd left.

He looked down at her beautiful face, eyes closed and mouth open in a silent gasp, and realized how close they had come to never having this again. Before he realized it, he was chanting her name over and over as he watched quiet tears stream down her face.

"Oh God Mac, tell me you're close" he pleaded moments later. She just nodded her head, whimpering. He reached down between them and began rubbing in unison with his thrusts and she was gone, murmuring his name over and over. Just the look on her face was enough to trigger his orgasm. He collapsed on top of her before he thought better of it and suddenly tried to pull away from her.

"Stop it Will. I told you it doesn't hurt anymore" she told him, pulling his head down to rest on her chest.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the bruise on her right breast before settling down against her. He listened to her racing heartbeat and thought he could stay right here forever.

"Well, I don't want to say a cancer scare was worth it, but maybe…" she trailed off.

"It wasn't worth it Mackenzie. Don't joke about it ok? The whole experience is still a little too fresh in my mind for it to be funny" he said gravely against her breast.

"I tend to think that anything that gets us back to this is worth it Will."

Was she kidding? They would have gotten here. It might have taken a little longer, but they would have gotten here. And he never wanted to hear her say that breast cancer might have been worth that.

"We were already nearly here anyway Mac. And I think the minute you said biopsy it shaved a few years off my life, so I still think I could have done without the last few days" he told her certainly.

"Even this part" she whispered, running her fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead.

"I don't ever want to live without this part again" he told her seriously.

"Me neither."

They lay silently for a few minutes, absorbing the reality of this…of the two of them like this again.

"Were we?" she asked quietly.

"Were we what Mac?" he wondered, lifting his head to look at her.

"Were we nearly here, before all this happened?"

"Yeah Mac, we were" he told her firmly. He didn't want to admit how much longer it might have taken, but he knew now, more than ever, that this had been inevitable. There was no one else.

"Ok" she agreed quickly.

"Ok?" he asked, a little stunned at how easily she accepted that. "You're actually going to let that go with ok?"

"Maybe. For right now, maybe I am" she told him, tightening the arm that was wrapped loosely over his shoulder.

"I'm sure that won't last for long" he chuckled against her breast.

"Hey, I can be patient!" she grumbled.

"No you can't Mackenzie. It's not in your nature." He sat up against the headboard and pulled her against his side, where she fit so easily and naturally it really was as if they were made for each other.

"Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf" she huffed into his chest.

"Turning over a new leaf, my ass. You're tired and overwhelmed and have been through hell the past few days. Give it time and you'll be pestering me for answers again."

"Then give them to me now" she muttered.

"_That_ is my Mackenzie" he laughed.

"Am I?" she asked.

"What? Mine? As much as you have ever been anybody's Mac, yes, I like to think so." And it was true. Even when he was strutting through the newsroom with women half his age trying to goad her into a response, and when she was dating that asshole Wade Campbell, she was his and he was hers and that was just the way it was. Always had been…always would be.

"So how did we get here from where we were a year ago?" she asked, running her hand up and down his chest, head pressed to his shoulder.

She never could just let something be what it was. She always had to know why and how and what will happen next. It made her an amazing journalist and an exhausting bedmate. Did they have to have all the answers right now? Couldn't they just enjoy the moment? But he saw her inquisitive little smirk and knew they weren't going to be sleeping until she was satisfied.

"Time and therapy and dating other people that were totally wrong for us Mac. I don't know. I'm not saying I have all the answers, I just know that you and I aren't terribly good at being apart. Maybe we're both too fucked up to be with anybody _but _each other."

"That's a ringing endorsement for our future together Will" she choked out and began to pull away from him. He stopped her movements.

Damn, they were never going to get any sleep at this rate.

"That didn't come out the way I meant it Mackenzie. I meant that we're fucked up in just the right ways for each other."

Shit, he really was awful at this.

"That didn't really sound any better Will" she mumbled.

"I know it didn't, but you have to know what I mean. Isn't everyone out there screwed up in some way? I think the couples that stay together are the ones that admit that and don't try to pretend everything is perfect. We aren't perfect Mackenzie. But we're perfectly screwed up for each other."

"Am I just sleep-deprived or did that actually make sense in some sort of twisted way?" she asked him.

Finally, he had said something right.

"I'm full of unbelievably deep philosophical thoughts, particularly after good sex" he responded.

"_Good_ sex?" she asked.

"Ok, I'm full of unbelievably deep philosophical thoughts after _great_ sex. Imagine the shit I can come up with after a few more days of this?" he teased, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head.

"I can't wait" she whispered.

"Me neither Mac."

"Do you think you should call Charlie before he sends Lonny over here looking for us?" she wondered aloud.

"No, I think Charlie can handle waiting until the morning. We'll take him out to dinner tomorrow night. He'll be thrilled."

He moved them both down in bed and spooned up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and then thought better of it, moving his arm away from the large bruise on the side of her breast.

"For God's sake Will! I told you I'm fine…stop treating me like a porcelain doll!"

"Sorry" he whispered as he pulled her to him a bit more firmly.

"That's better" she told him.

He held in a small chuckle at that one. She would always be the one telling him what to do…driving him insane. And he would love every minute of it.

"Are you ok Mac? I mean after everything that's happened the last few days I don't want you to feel overwhelmed by all this."

"I don't feel overwhelmed Will" she reassured him. But he needed to know that she was ok with all this. That she was as much a part of the decision to be here as he was.

"Ok. How do you feel?" he asked quietly, waiting for the words that would tell him he could relax, she wasn't going anywhere.

"I feel like I'm home" she said simply. That was it…that was what he needed. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"You are Mackenzie. You are."

**The End.**


End file.
